Resilient tread for footwear



Apr.y 17, 43923K.: 1,452,089 F. A. NOLAN RESILIENT SPREAD FOR FOOTWEAR `Orlglmal yFiled Nov. 5; 1919 Patented Apr. l?, 1923.

UNITED .STATES FRANCIS A. NOLAN, 0F ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

RESILIIENT TREAD FOR FOOTWEAR.

Application filed November 3, 1919. Serial No. 335,445.

To all whom i may cof/warn:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS A. NOLAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. laul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented new and useful Improvements in Resilient Treads for Foot-V wear, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in resilient treads for shoes, boots and other footwear. More particularly the object of this invention is to provide improved means for securing treads most effectively to footwear. It has been common practice to provide rubber heels with metallic washers or metallic plates embedded therein and formed with nail holes, but as commonly constructed the nails must be made to register with the holes in the embedded washers or plate, in order to insure that the nails pass direct ly and not slanting therethrough. It is also known that plates can be used that are not perforated, the surface of the plate being indented or `roughened so that the nail can be driven through the plate Without being deflected, such construction being fully described in my Patent #1,219,991, granted on the 20th day of March, 1917, for rubber heels.

My present improvement provide a smooth plate so thin and so embedded in the resilient tread that the nails when driven through the tread and into the footwear will perforate the plate without the necessity of guiding means or holes in the plate or wash-- ers being employed to prevent the point of the nail from glancing or bending when driven through the tread and into the footwear. A still further advantage attained by my invention is that heels can be interchanged from a right hand shoe to a left hand shoe to distribute the wear, the fast ener plate permitting nails or other fasten-1 ing means to be readily and effectively secured through unperforated portions of the plate. `With these and other objects in view my invention comprises the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter more particularly described and `defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, I have illustrated my invention as applied to a resilient heel structure, but it will be understood that the invention is equally applicable to soles and Renewed January 11, 1923.

other types of treads for use on shoes, boots, and other footwear.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a plan of a rubber shoe heel looking at the bottom thereof, a portion being broken away and in section to disclose the fastening plate which is embedded therein; Fig. 2 is a plan view of my improved fastening plate; Fig. 3 is a vertical scr-tion of mold showing my improved heel and fastener therein, the section of said heel and fastener being taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a vertical section of a detailv showing a portion of my improved fastener embefjlded in a portion of a heel and illustrating the action which transpires when a fastener nail is driven through the heel for securing the heel on a shoe; Fig. 5 is a plan view of an alternative construction of fastener plate; Fig. 6 is a vertical section of a mold and heel illustrating the action which transpires in the mold when the fastener plate is not constructed in accordance with my improvements; Fig. 7 is a plan of the fastener plate shown in Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a plan of a mold and fastener therein illustrating an alternative construction of the mold engaging means and fastener; 9 is a plan of a mold and heel showing another alternative means for holding the fastener in the mold; Fig. l() is a vertical longi tudinal section of a heel illustrating an alternative constructionof my improved fast-4 ener; Fig. 11 kis a plan of my improved fastener which appears in Fig. 10, and Fig-12 is a perspective partly in section of a detail of the fastener illustrated in Fig. 11.

In the drawing A indicates resilient heel tread made out of rubber, rubber composition or any other suitable resilient material. This heel may be made in any suitable shape for use on foot-wear of any kind and is provided with a nail fastening plate B or washer embedded therein or secured thereto. This fastener may be formed in any way desired either by moulding or cutting' or the plate may be struck up with a die. The fastener as illustrated resembles in horizontal outline the heel but is of smaller surface area so that when embedded in the heel there is a marginal portion 10 of united material constituting the tread body surrounding the fastener. rFhe fastener' is preferably formed with an opening or openings 11. of large or small area through which the resilient material constituting the body of the tread above and below the fastener' is united by sub stantially solid portions of itself. Thus thc fastener is intimately united with the body of the tread. The fastener is made out of point of the nail from deliecting or bending fromv its course when driven through the tread. The thinness of the metal also 'permits the `nail to be easily d'riven'through the fastener and the fastener being constructed of metal is longitudinally unyielding to re# sist the lateral strain of the fastening nails and is of sufficient strength to hold thek heads of the nails and prevent the tread from being torn loose from foot-wear after it has been secured. The harder the metal employed the thinner the plate should bo constructed. ThatA portiony of the fastener through which the nails are preferably secured is indicated by a surface zone C marked into or on the bottom surface of the tread. Thus in fastening` the tread on footwear the nails are driven. vertically through the tread at any portion indicated by the surface Zone C. In driving' the nails through, the` thin metal fastener 'a jagged burr ,13 forms around the nail which engages into the body of the tread and assists f in holding; the fastener in the tread. This burr also reinforces the strength of the fastener in prev/.enting` the tread from beingr tornpaway from the nails after the tread has been secured on footwear.

In molding improved fastener in the body of the tread a mold D may be provided with fastening pins 14 and 14; over which the 1fastener is placed; suitable perforations 15 and being providedhin the fastener to receive the positioningpins. In molding, a

` tread a biscuit of rubber composition or other resilient material is placed in the mold. The fastener is then placed with its rearward end over the pin 11i through the opening 15. The front openings 16 are preferably elongated longitudinally to guide the fastener down upon the pins'l without distorting the vshape of the fastener when the uppermost biscuit of rubber composition is placed in the mold. The resilient material is then compressed and vulcanized in the usual manner. v surrounds the pin lll to hold the rearward end of the fastener longitudinally and laterally in position. In this manner the fastener is molded into the body of the heel in smooth flat condition, the holding means i causing this operation to transpire. The

,he back opening 15 closelyconstruction of mold. and plate. illustrated in Figs. 3 and 5. In F ig. Sthe fastener has a single opening20 provided near the rearward endthrough which the positioner 2l engages. The forward pair of positioners 22 pass freely through a single large opening 23 in the fastener, beingv positioned so as to permit free `but limited longitudinal movement of the fastener by guidingV the fastener longitudinally. This construction for positioning the fastener in the mold will also accomplish the result of moldingthe tread with the fastener lying' in a horizontal plane in the saine manner as by use of the construction illustrated in Fig'. In Fig. 9 a triangular opening 24 is provided in the fastener through which the fastener posi@ tioning pins 2.5 in the mold pass freely, beino; spaced from the edges of said triangular opening. This construction will cause the fastener to assume a rough approximation of the position desired inthe body of the tread when the tread is molded with the fastener therein and allow the fastener to assume a position in a. horizontal plane.`

In 10, 11 and 12 I have illustrated an alternative construction of my invention in which the body E of the tread is proyided with the nail fastener 2G embedded in its f upper surface and secured thereto byfyuln canizing the fastener to the `tread body and by burrs 27 formed by perforating the, fas

tener and causing the Surrounding .edges of the perforation .to engage downwardly int the body of the tread when the treadis molded with 'the fastener therein as illustrated in Fig. 10. A Hangs 29 around the edge of the vfasteneralso augmente the fasteningV means. The fastener 2G inthe pref ferred construction illustrated and described above is mail@ Olllt of thin inetalmaterial or its equivalent for the purposeof pe,rformingf the improved functionstated above. i In fas-f toning the tread on footwear the nails (2 8. are driven upwardly through the body of the tread and through the unperfoajd DOP tion of thefastenerl" u iVhile I have described and shown nails as the securing means passing throughtheyy tread and fastener, it will be understood;

screws or any other securing means may be employed as equivalent means for performing the functions thereof Within the spirit of my invention. I have also shown a shoe heel in the drawing to which my improvement is applied but I wish it understood that my invention is equally applicable to treads used on heels, soles, half soles or any other form of tread for any and all kinds of footwear or the equivalent thereof.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principles of operation of my invention together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the construction shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means and applied to uses other than thoseabove set forth within the scope of the following claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is:

l. A resilient tread having embedded therein a fastener to receive and hold a fastening nail, consisting of a thin flexible metal plate longitudinally unyielding toresist the lateral strain of the fastening nail and adapted to resist and hold the head of the nail against passing through, said yplate having a substantially smooth upper surface and being easily penetrable and readily yielding to the point of the nail to form an indenture and prevent. the point from deiecting when the nail is driven through the tread and fastener.

2. In combination with a resilient tread, a fastener, consisting of a thin flexible met-al element secured to said tread, said element having a substantially smooth upper surface and being easily penetrable and unyelding to resist the head of a nail against passing 'through and to resist lateral strain of the nail, and readily yielding to the point of a nail to form an indenture and prevent the point from being deflected when the nail is driven through the tread and fastener.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a cushion tread provided with a metallic plate embedded therein, said plate having a substantially smooth upper surface and being sufliciently thin and flexible to be easily indented by the fastening means employed to prevent deflection thereof and to be easily penetrated by the fastening means when securing the tread on a support.

4f As a new article of manufacture, a cushion tread provided with a metallic plate embedded therein having a substantially smooth upper surface and an opening through which the material of the tread connects and being sufficiently thin to be easily indented and penetrated by the fastening means.

Signed at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, this 29 day of October, 1919.

FRANCIS A. NOLAN.

soA 

